[Rockhounds] S 22 Legislation has passed the Senate, Fossil Collecting at risk !!!

[Jeffrey T. Cessna]

To Clarify,

Yes, we did just talk about the same text. At 
that point it was in H.R.544, which  was killed 
in committee. That same text has be cut & pasted 
into S.22. S.22 is an omnibus bill and the 
"Preservation of Paleontological Resources" is a 
very small part of it. S.22 has passed the Senate 
and is pending in the House. It is expected to be decided upon within 48 hrs.

People can make up their own minds about whether 
it is a good idea to hand a big stick to someone 
and hope he doesn't hit you with it.

Cheers,
Jeff




At 10:03 AM 1/27/2009, you wrote:
>Hi All,
>  The following was just sent to me; does anyone on the list want
>to clarify this? I thought we had just talked about it. Is this a new
>twist or the same old same old?
>thanks dave
>
>
>Hello Dave,
>
>At tonight's Northern Virginia Mineral meeting, 
>Jan 26, Congressman (and longtime Rockhound) 
>John Culberson (Houston, Texas) stopped by at 
>the onset of our meeting to inform us that there 
>was a ominous piece of legislation, S 22, moving 
>on a very fast track in Congress. It has already 
>passed the Senate and it is loaded with all 
>sorts of goodies for politicians and their constituents.
>
>Lurking within this bill is a Paleontology 
>section that would make it illegal for anyone to 
>pick up a fossil found on any Federal land!! The 
>penalties are onerous, 5 yrs and $10,000 fine. 
>Only pre approved professional paleontologists 
>(universities and museum) would ever be given permits.
>
>According to Culberson, almost no one in 
>Congress is aware of this fossil collecting 
>restriction in this bill and they definitely do not realize the ramifications.
>
>Also, the bill states that if you owned private 
>property on which fossils were being found, 
>these same approved paleontologists could come 
>on to your property and lay claim the fossils found on your private land.
>
>This portion of S 22 could single-handedly 
>destroy the fossil collecting hobby and harshly 
>step on private property rights as well.
>
>It is20also well known fact that most of the 
>important fossil finds in this country were made by amateur paleontologists.
>
>Culberson stressed that this bill could be 
>coming to a vote any day now!  Perhaps within 48-72 hrs !!
>
>The key is to urge Congressmen to request that 
>the Paleontology section be stripped out of S 22.
>
>John Culberson strongly urged our membership to 
>spread the word to Mineral clubs around the 
>country ASAP so as to generate protest emails to 
>Congessmen all over the country as well as 
>urging us to contact our own Congressman tomorrow if possible.
>
>He stressed that contacting mineral clubs across 
>the country was the most important task and 
>urging them to spread the word so that 
>Congessmen all across the country get emails and 
>phone calls regarding this and not just the handful of congressman in our area.
>
>Thanks very much for any actions you take in this matter.
>Sincerely,
>Tom Taaffe
>
>--
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